Oblivious #4
No. I’m addled *and* obtuse.
Folks, I’ve been wanting to do an oblivious post for a while now. But, I didn’t want to force things. Then, this just fell in my lap. Thank you life, I owe you one. You know the old saying, “That… and $5 gets me a cup of coffee.” ?
— — —
There’s a string of mindboggling obliviousness here. We’ll start with this quote:
“The Washington Post is delighted to announce today a new partnership with Panera Bread which will provide six months of Washington Post digital access for free for members of Panera’s Unlimited Sip Club. Now, members of the beverage subscription can start their day with not only their favorite drinks, like coffee or a Charged Lemonade, but also news they can use with unlimited digital access to The Post’s world-renowned journalism.”
Apparently, whatever that was plus five bucks now gets you coffee AND six months of unlimited access to world-renowned journalism. I just wished I had been drinking a coffee when I read that to do a spit take.
So you pay Panera for a dark roast and get the newspaper who declares, “Democracy dies in the darkness” as a throw in. I live in an inflationary world where valueless stuff feels free to charge me more every day. Here, WaPo is free. Deflation — woohoo!
I get that from time-to-time brands have to devalue their brands to get more customers. Drop the price. Give thing away. Anything.
Gannett left free copies of USA Today at hotel room doors. CNN aired in airports without us paying for cable. All so they could tell advertisers their ads will reach more people. So, they get more ad money.
But, CNN doesn’t lead with, “We give it away for free.” No. That would be silly. They tell advertisers about their quality journalism. Sorry, world-renowned journalism.
It’s not news to give things away. It’s not smart to make it news. Gannett didn’t put stickers on newspapers boxes pointing out where to get papers for free. CNN didn’t invite people who pay for cable into airports.
Freebies are like going on a date with an ugly person. I‘ve been the ugly person. You go to a dimly lit, out of the way restaurant and sit at the back. You don’t sit by the window. Because: you hope people don’t notice.
Who ran this story? The Washington Post. They didn’t just run it. They trumpeted their give away in the first ‘graph. Charged Lemonade gets to wear the I’m with stupid t-shirt when they hang out with Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post. Talk about oblivious.
You know who’s not oblivious? The 2,500,000 people who pay $40 to $120 per year to subscribe to the Washington Post. Yes, pay. They’re not happy.
“…and what for the long-time subscribers???”
“What are you going to give us [sic] sunscribers? C'mon, throw us a bone.”
It didn’t have to be this way. WaPo just told their most loyal customers they’re paying for something that has no value. They didn’t just do it. They didn’t just get say it. Nope. They yelled it. In their own paper.
#oblivious